Senator Claire McCaskill holds roundtable on college affordability

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV.com) - United States Senator Claire McCaskill welcomed leaders from local colleges and universities to Metro High School Monday morning to talk about why tuition has gotten so outrageously expensive.

McCaskill says families are struggling just to get their kids an education beyond high school.

“We have to figure out how we get more kids into college or trained for a high paying job in a way that is affordable,” McCaskill said.

McCaskill claims tuition keeps going up, but graduation rates are not. She says a lot of times students are not getting enough of a return on their investment with regards to costs.

News 4 spoke with parents who say financial planners tell them “it’s going to be astronomical” trying to save for college. They say it's great that government officials are talking about the problem, but it only matters of something is actually done about it.

Senator McCaskill also took aim at the fact students are not allowed to refinance loans to a lower interest rate – something homeowners are allowed to do.

“Why should a student have to be paying higher than market interest to the government for their student loans? That’s really what is offensive about this is. The profit that’s being made on the backs of these kids as they’re struggling as they get out of school is going to the United States government,” McCaskill said.